At the core of our business, we are innovators. We do not seek to rest on our laurels and successes. Each success we experience is ultimately a building block. If we continued with marketing strategies from five years ago, much less even a year ago, then we would be on the path to obsolescence.
We have seen our share of businesses that fade out because they have not adapted to the extreme change and speed of the marketplace. I have seen the fortunes of small business owners change overnight because old channels of marketing and ways of selling no longer worked. They were living in the past.
One of the things we do at AscendWorks is continually question how to improve our service offerings. It keeps us pushing the boundaries. Here are some ways our process works, which may help you in your own businesses:
- Technology evaluation. We see new marketing technologies continually. We push and prod on the merits and fit for our clients. Just because something is out there does not warrant attention or application. We like to test and get feedback quickly.
- Results. When we apply a technology, we build strategy and process around it. We are looking for a signal to the noise. We want results. When we don’t see it, we iterate quickly until we find the signal.
- Focus. We say, “No,” more than we accept the latest fad. We are always looking to cut out steps to streamline processes for our clients and make things easier. Every new item that is bolted on has a management cost associated with it. We would rather work with fewer items and refine them to perfection than throw a bunch of things against a wall to see what happens.
- Knowledge Sharing. Our team reads, studies and writes. We share and look for innovation wherever we can find it. We like using Google+, our internal project management systems and collaboration tools to push on new ideas, strategies and technologies.
We used to be able to depend on the status quo. That was in an analog world where things moved slow and dependably. The exciting part of the digital revolution is that change is continual and the unimaginative and entrenched are exposed continually. Many old stalwarts and industries are overturned quickly.
Security is not going to be in finding a right answer. It is going to lie in talent and acumen to how things change and applying them quickly.
Perhaps you are looking for ideas because the old is not working. What do you think?
